Sendyne Corp., a New York-based semiconductor developer, and the University of Toronto have entered into a research agreement to develop systems and electronics with the goal of accelerating the adoption of large scale battery storage for Electric Vehicles (EV) and utility-scale battery packs.

This research project will implement silicon designs to significantly improve the cost and performance of such battery storage systems.

Sendyne has been developing semiconductors, systems and technology specifically targeted for battery management systems. Sendyne is providing its patented technology as well as access to intellectual property, development tools and scientific expertise. The University of Toronto has developed significant technology on power supplies and power management systems which will be utilized for this project.

Leading the project team is Professor Aleksandar Prodic, from the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department of the University of Toronto and the founder of the Laboratory for Power Management and Integrated SMPS, where the development will take place. Dr. Prodic, a recipient of several IEEE awards and distinctions, is an expert in power system design.

Comments

An EV battery, such as the Volt's at 16Kwh, is a large-scale battery. Large-scale differentiates between packs used for notebooks, which might contain 1 to 3-4 cells, and packs which use multiple cells. Packs with multiple cells have different design challenges than those made for portable electronics.

Every home and business should have a large sodium-nickel-chloride battery as part of the unseen heating and cooling system. The battery would be a legally required luxury to maintain heat and some light during grid failures. It will last the life of the house and be designed to have cells replaced in the event of very rare failures. You can agree with the local grid operator that power can be cut to your house for a few hours for a fee. For an additional fee and their funding of an inverter they can on occasion feed power to the grid from your battery within limits. Low power and essential devices like heating, and food storage and some lights would be connected directly to the battery.

A cogeneration device would be required along with the battery if natural gas were available. This would make power available during outages longer than a day and provide CO2 reduction at much lower cost and in much larger amounts than solar cells could. The cogeneration unit could also charge the car if needed when grid power was expensive. Large amounts of heat storage would be required by law, like insulation, to make the cogeneration unit most effective and useful.

Personal electric automobiles can have low power and a low cost low capacity battery. They must always have a range extender. Larger automobiles for long commuting or travel can be efficient hydraulic hybrid machines. ..HG..